Grounded
by rejuvenation
Summary: Oneshot- When Hermione's parents, afraid of the incoming war within the wizarding world, trap her inside her room for the summer, Fred comes to rescue her.


The rain of the August storm pounded harder on the roof, and, in a small house in a Muggle town just outside of London, Hermione Granger stood to shut the window. She had spent the whole day engrossed in _Fifty Most Useful Potion-Making Herbs_ and hadn't realized that the sun was going down, nor that it was raining, until a small puddle had formed under her window.

Hermione turned back to her bed, unsure what to do next. After spending the whole day with her head stuck in a book, she felt a most un-Hermione-like sensation: she no longer wanted to continue reading. Her vision was foggy, her head hurt – she had read more that day than usual, and she felt the physical consequences. But what else could she do?

Hermione liked to think that she chose to stay in her room all day studying. Next year were her NEWTS, and she knew that she wouldn't be properly prepared if she didn't start reviewing material at least a year beforehand. Truthfully, though, Hermione was grounded.

After hearing about the war within the Wizarding World, Hermione's parents believed that it was unsafe for her to leave the house. Their reasoning was that, if she exited the house into the wider world, especially the Wizarding World, she could very well be captured by He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named's supporters, let alone the Death Eaters themselves. Hermione attempted to explain to them that the wards on most places in the Wizarding World, especially those on the Burrow, actually made those places much safer than her parents' home. But this argument fell on deaf ears, and her parents went so far as to tell her she could no longer even exit her room, locking the door from the outside.

Preventing her from leaving her room was bad enough (though Hermione had an en-suite bathroom, so at least that wasn't an issue), but her parents had been so worried about her safety that they had also taken her wand and all magical equipment, leaving only her books. Owling her friends was out of the question since the neighbors' houses were close enough to hers that, at some point, the townspeople would certainly notice a snowy white owl flying through the south of England. Dumbledore had also noted in passing that, while she was not expressly prohibited from contacting her friends, Death Eaters knew she was a best friend of Harry Potter and would have a special interest in her correspondences.

Hence, Hermione had neither seen nor communicated with any of her friends since Hogwarts let out in June. In short, she was lonely, tired of reading, and bored, bored, bored.

Hermione looked outside and noticed the sky darkening. She and her parents had already eaten a quiet, awkward dinner, and she knew that, the sooner she fell asleep, the less time she would have to while away by reading books. Or by staring at the wall. Or by counting the fibers in the carpet. Anything, really, would work to entertain her at this point. She wasn't too picky.

So, Hermione stood up and began to change into her pajamas. Because it was so cold outside, she pulled out her Weasley sweater from its hiding place at the back of her dresser. Even though the sweater was magenta and yellow, Hermione had wanted to make sure her parents couldn't take it. Mrs. Weasley was her mother in the wizarding world, and sometimes Hermione just needed to feel that kind of love. Hermione slipped the sweater over her head and folded down the blankets on her bed, ready to settle in for another night of tossing and turning. She never could sleep well when she'd read all day; her body just wasn't tired. Hermione was about to pull the blankets over herself when she heard a bump against the window. Tugging the blankets higher above her (they were the closest thing she had to defense against any type of attacker), she hunkered down, waiting to hear if there was another bump. Sure enough, there was. There were two more, in fact, before she finally got up to see what all the racket was about. Hermione cautiously padded over to the window and shifted the paisley curtain to the side so she could see through the wrought-iron-panelled window into the darkened night. But, instead of the dark shape of the tree outside her window that she usually saw, a mop of Weasley red hair appeared. Hermione screamed, quickly covering her mouth and hoping her parents hadn't heard. The Weasley head came into focus again and revealed itself to be that of Fred.

Hermione gasped. "Fred, what are you doing here? This is a Muggle village, you're on your broomstick for Merlin's sake, anybody could have seen you...what about the Statute of Secrecy? What about the war? What about these Muggles' safety?"

Fred moved his broomstick higher. "What about you, Hermione? You've got to be so lonely, stuck up here in this bedroom in this house in this Muggle neighborhood where you know absolutely nobody."

Hermione protested, saying that she did in fact know the neighbors - they were a very nice old couple who were always up for a chat. Unfortunately, since Hermione hadn't been allowed to leave her house, she hadn't been able to talk to them at all. But she didn't tell Fred this, rather preferring that he thought she was some type of neighborhood social butterfly.

Fred rolled his eyes. "Hermione, none of your friends live here. Whenever you're at the Burrow, you complain that the only real friends you ever had here were that group of girls in Year 1 who turned out to be actually quite mean to you once you turned out to enjoy school. We've missed you so much. None of us have heard from you in months!"

Hermione's face fell. "Fred, I didn't mean to not write to any of you. But my parents don't let me leave the house, and there's too many Muggles around to send owls, and Dumbledore said that the Death Eaters would be particularly interested in my location...I just thought it would be better to ignore your letters and tell you what was going on when I saw you all at Hogwarts."

"Hermione, it's okay," Fred said, waving his hand dismissively. "The war has really limited all of our freedom, most of all yours since you're muggleborn. Now," he said, fiddling with the outside window latch, "let me in. We need to pack your trunk."

"Fred, what in Merlin's name are you doing? I can't leave. What would my parents say? I would hate to disrespect them," said Hermione, wringing her hands.

"Hermione, your parents will understand. They can't have expected you to be happy being isolated from everyone you know and the world you practically grew up in. Now, seriously, let me in, I'm quite wet."

Relenting, Hermione opened the window lock and pushed the bottom portion of the window up, letting a dripping Fred into her childhood room. Suddenly, she was quite nervous. None of her wizarding friends had ever seen her bedroom, and she worried that they would make fun of her Muggle band posters or of her towering piles of books. But Fred was quite kind; he said nothing about her room except that it looked very cozy.

Something occurred to Hermione: Fred was eighteen. She turned to him as he began dragging her empty trunk out from under her bed. "Fred, you're of age. Why didn't you just Apparate in here? Why didn't you let yourself in through the window?"

Fred pulled Hermione's trunk up and lifted it onto her bed with a clunk. "Because, Hermione, it's rude to invite yourself in somewhere. I wouldn't help you if you didn't want me to."

Hermione blinked at this. She hadn't expected this level of consideration or thoughtfulness from Fred. Noticing that she and Fred were still making eye contact, she quickly changed the subject. "Why didn't George come? Or Ron and Harry?"

"I decided you probably wouldn't want much fuss made. I'm sure they're all concerned about you, but we hadn't talked about it, and I thought it would be better if I came by myself. That way, if you didn't want to come, you'd only be sending me away, and that's happened before, so I wouldn't be too shaken up," Fred explained. "Plus, I'm so much more impulsive than George is. He wouldn't have let us do this," he chuckled.

"Fred!" Hermione said, aghast. "I never meant it like that. I just didn't want you and George to terrorize the first years, I didn't really want to send you away! I do actually like you…" Hermione turned pink. "And George!" she hastily added.

"Relax, Hermione," Fred said, grinning. "I know you never did. Anyway, where'd your mum and dad hide your school things?"

"How'd you know they hid them?" asked Hermione curiously.

"Well, they weren't in your trunk, and you're usually very organized," reasoned Fred, "and remember I've done this once before for Harry. Of course, he was locked in his room for a different reason entirely, but getting you out will be roughly the same idea."

"Oh, of course," said Hermione, slightly disappointed to remember that Harry wasn't the only person Fred had done this for. She had always had a bit of a soft spot for Fred, though she would never admit that to anyone. He and his twin never sincerely meant to hurt anyone (except for Malfoy and Snape, but those were completely justified); they had only ever wanted to make their friends laugh and destress the Hogwarts population. Fred really did have brains and a large work ethic, even though he didn't want anyone to realize that about him. Hermione also liked that Fred was a bit more assertive than George – Fred was usually the instigator of any shenanigans the twins got themselves into, and he was quicker than George to stand up for himself and others. These qualities could make Fred a good counterpoint to her, as she sometimes thought too long before leaping into action, and she was sometimes too scared of authority to stand up to them at first, though she usually did in the end. Plus, Fred wasn't too bad looking, Hermione reasoned. She stopped daydreaming when she realized Fred was staring at her strangely.

"Earth to Hermione! Where were you?" asked Fred teasingly.

Flustered, Hermione struggled to find words. "Oh, nowhere, nothing, never mind… I'm not entirely sure where my parents hid my stuff…it's not exactly like they wanted me to find it."

Boldly striding towards Hermione's door, Fred noted that they already had one clue: "your school things aren't in your room…so they must be somewhere in the rest of the house! Let's go!"

Fred was just about to turn Hermione's doorknob when she grabbed his hand. "No! My parents are asleep in the next room! We're making enough of a ruckus in here, but I'm sure that if we went out in the hall, my parents would hear us! I feel bad enough that I'm basically running away, and I certainly don't want to get caught doing it…I had hoped to just send my parents a letter in the morning letting them know what I'm doing and that I'm safe. I really didn't want to get caught in the middle of packing my things with a boy in my room!" As Hermione finished, she realized that she'd been holding Fred's hand the entire time and practically threw his hand out of her grasp (though she had secretly, sort of, just a little bit enjoyed it).

Fred smirked at her behavior but said nothing about it, instead remarking, "as you so wisely informed me, Hermione, I am a wizard of age."

Hermione rolled her eyes as Fred smoothly cast disillusionment charms on both of them and performed _muffliato_ on her parents. She then whispered firmly, "what are you doing? You know you can't perform magic in front of Muggles!"

Fred responded, "Hermione, what your parents don't know won't hurt them. The disillusionment charm doesn't affect them. You know that. They'll simply think you're still in your room. And your parents won't know that they're under the effects of _muffliato_ – to them, there's just a muffled buzzing sound going on. Now," he clapped his hands together, "let's find your things!"

Hermione sighed. "Fine. I'll search this floor, and you can go downstairs and look through the living room, dining room, and kitchen. There is no basement, and I'm sure my things are in this house somewhere."

"Perfect!" Fred exclaimed, and he, as ordered, went downstairs.

Hermione knew her things wouldn't be in her room or bathroom (she had spent much of her summer looking for them). So, she proceeded into her parents' bathroom, taking everything out of the cupboards and putting it all back in. She even checked under the floor tiles and in the toilet tank for safety. But her school supplies were not to be found.

Hermione knew that this meant she now had to look in her parents' room. They did tend to hide things from her there, so she knew there was a high chance that they had found a concealed spot and placed her magical objects there. She sighed and, as quietly as possible, opened their door. The first place she looked was the closet. Her mother had a large pile of shoes on the floor and tended to hide things like Christmas and birthday presents there so that the recipient would not accidentally find them. However, Hermione's mother likely knew that Hermione knew about this place and, after picking up every single shoe, Hermione discovered that her mother had hidden the sought-for items elsewhere.

Hermione quietly moved over to her parents' bed and ducked down to peer under it. Unfortunately, there was no cauldron, no potions supplies, and no wand hidden there.

She walked to the very last place on this floor where her parents could've hidden her belongings: her parents' tall, imposing black dresser. This dresser had always been off-limits for Hermione. Ever since she could remember, her parents had reprimanded her from getting too close to it or from touching the handles, saying that everyone had the right to privacy. Hermione had always understood and agreed with them: she certainly didn't want to see her parents' underwear, and she didn't want them to see hers. But, if ever she looked in this forbidden dresser, now would be the time.

Hermione took a deep breath and opened the top drawer, stealing a glance over to her parents to make sure they were still asleep. They were, of course, so Fred's charm must have been quite strong. She internally complimented him on his magic before realizing that she couldn't, shouldn't, do that. They weren't friends, were they? He was her best friend's older brother, wasn't he? Any sort of camaraderie between them would be entirely out-of-place and improper, wouldn't it? Hermione shook her head at herself and turned back to the dresser.

The top drawer yielded nothing besides her father's boxer briefs and crew socks. Hermione quickly looked away and shut the drawer, not wanting to see any more of that. The second drawer contained her father's shirts and pants and was somewhat deeper than the top drawer. Hermione took a moment to pull some shirts out and look through this drawer – maybe her supplies were at the bottom of it. Alas, they were not. The third and fourth drawers were a mirror of the first and second, except that they were her mother's clothing, not her father's. The bottom drawer was deep and worn. Hermione psyched herself up, stole a last glance at her sleeping parents, and opened the drawer.

Just as Hermione laid eyes on her school things, she felt a tap on her shoulder, and, seeing no one behind her, she gasped loudly. A hand landed on her mouth to cover the noise, and Fred said sarcastically, "It's me, Hermione. Merlin, you're nervous."

Hermione retorted, "My parents are sleeping right here. I am sneaking out of their house. With a boy who is two years older than me, whom they haven't yet met! I think I have a right to be 'nervous,'" she said, emphatically using air quotes.

"Calm down, Hermione!" Fred said. "I was just winding you up…I see you've found your school things!"

Hermione looked back at the drawer, nodding. "Let's bring them back to my room and pack my trunk."

She and Fred made multiple strenuous trips between her parents' room and her own; Hermione would never admit it, but she had far, far too many potions supplies and rolls of parchment. Finally, after had wrestled the lid down and fastened the latches of her trunk, Hermione closed her eyes for a moment.

She couldn't believe she was leaving her parents. Okay, not really, really leaving, but running away for the rest of the summer. After all they'd done for her, she was deserting them. They were only trying to keep her safe, and they'd provided a safe house, good food…they didn't deserve what she was doing to them. Despite Hermione's struggles to contain herself, her tears began to slip down her face. And even though her room was dark, and the only illumination was the cloudy moonlight slanting through the window, Fred noticed Hermione's emotion and slipped an arm around her shoulder.

"Hermione, it's okay. You can send them a letter in the morning. They'll miss you, but they'll know you're safe."

"I know," Hermione mumbled. "But I've never left them like this before. I've stayed at the Burrow over summers, but, you know, that's not the same. They knew where I was. In fact, they wanted me there; they wanted me with my friends, they knew I missed Hogwarts, but this time it's so different…"

Fred pulled her closer into him. "Mum will love to have you with us, Ron and Ginny and Harry of course will be so excited, and you know how I feel…and how George feels… about your help with our shop. Your parents will understand you can't desert your community during a war. It's awful, but it's true."

Hermione sniffed. "You have been so good at figuring your life out. You were so brave to leave Hogwarts and that witch Umbridge so you could open your joke shop. You've been so successful, your magic is so good…You've reached your dreams at eighteen and here I am, not knowing what I want to do, not wanting to leave my parents…"

Fred stopped for a second, surprised Hermione felt this way about him. He had never realized that ever in a million years Hermione would respect his work, let alone compliment him on it or commend him for leaving Hogwarts. He had always had a bit of a soft spot for her, but he had been sure that it was because she was his little brother's best friend.

Fred replied, "Hermione, I was so stupid…I wish I could've gotten my NEWTS. I'm so happy with our shop, but what happens if it doesn't work out? Without NEWTS, I can't get a job almost anywhere. I don't have my life figured out. Any week we don't get enough sales is a week I could lose my job.

"But I can't think about that. I can't think about how I don't know what my job is going to be ten years from now. If you don't know what you'll be doing far in the future, think about what you're doing tomorrow, this week. And what you need to be doing right now is coming to the Burrow and getting a good night's sleep. Your parents aren't going to love you any less for helping your other community. Plus, in the morning, you can help George and me perfect our Ten-Second Sunburn Vanisher, for all us pale-skinned Brits who are too stupid to use a sun protection charm. Right now it turns your skin green, which is not really the effect we were going for."

Hermione sniffed and pulled back. "Thank you Fred. You're right. This is what I need right now and what Ron and Harry and Ginny and everybody else need too." She gave him a small smile. "Let's go to the Burrow before the sun comes up, shall we?"

Fred grinned at Hermione. "Of course." Charming Hermione's trunk to fly alongside them, Fred climbed out the window and onto his broom. "Get on, Hermione. We have to go before our Disillusionment Charms wear off."

Giving a last nervous look at her room, Hermione gingerly touched her right foot out the window on the broom, behind Fred.

"Hermione," Fred wryly remarked, "you're not going to be standing on the broom. Sit behind me. You have to get on all at once, in one go, or you're never going to do it."

Hermione sighed and half-leaned, half-fell, out her window and landed on the broom behind Fred.

"Excellent work, Miss Granger. Ten points to Gryffindor," Fred said, "now you have to hold on before we can go."

Hermione gently laid the tips of her fingers on Fred's shoulders.

"Hermione, that's ridiculous," Fred rolled his eyes. "Actually hold on." And he moved Hermione's hands to his stomach. "And keep them there," he said, "we don't want to lose you after all this. Now let's go!"

And they took off, the Cleansweep 2000 soaring through the cloudy night sky.

Along the ride, Hermione's hands grew hot on Fred's stomach. He was more toned than she'd realized, she mused, and for some reason, she was quite nervous, more than she was around most boys. Usually, her confidence in herself never let anyone sway her, but for some reason, sitting behind Fred on his broom as he rescued her from her parents' imprisonment of her was different.

Before she knew it, she and Fred had touched down behind the broom shed at the Burrow, and they had gotten off the broom, and Fred had bodily lifted her trunk onto his shoulder (he groaned quite a bit), and finally Fred said, "you know how I said I didn't tell anyone we were coming?"

"Yes," Hermione said warily.

"Well, I did, a bit."

"A bit? What does a bit mean?" responded Hermione, increasingly annoyed.

"A bit, dear Hermione, means that I told Ginny that she should go to bed early because something exciting might happen during the night, after which event she wouldn't sleep any longer."

"You told Ginny?" Hermione shouted. "That's the same as telling the whole entire family!"

"Relax," Fred responded. "As silly as she may seem, and as much as she likes gossip, she does keep a good secret."

Hermione relaxed, and she and Fred began to step through the long, dewy grass towards the teetering house.

Suddenly, something struck Hermione. "Fred, wait!"

"Yes?" Fred said, worry in his eyes.

"Fred, it's okay, I just thought of something for your potion!"

"What? What?" Fred jumped, visibly excited.

"Put in some peppermint! It'll be cooling for the sunburn, it'll smell nice, and it'll change the color!" Hermione enthused.

"Hermione." Fred said seriously. And he tossed down her trunk, ran over to her, lifted her, and, before he knew what he was doing, his lips met hers.

Hermione was surprised for a moment, but, realizing what was happening, she responded and kissed him back.

All too soon, Fred broke away. "Better get inside before anybody realizes you're missing!" Being the complete ass he was, he also winked at Hermione before challenging her to a race inside.

And Fred and Hermione ran through the moonlight, finally to the place Hermione truly called home.

**A/N: Please review and let me know what you think! Also tell me if there's any pairings/ships or story ideas you want to see. :)**


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